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‘Women in the workplace are treated like walking uteri’

More than 250 women complained of discrimination in the workplace last year because of pregnancy, Equal Opportunities Commissioner Tziona Koenig-Yair told a joint meeting of the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee and Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women on Tuesday.

Koenig-Yair presented her annual report to the committees, which also discussed discrimination against young mothers in the job market and workplace.

The Equal Opportunities Commission received 781 complaints in 2014, 122 fewer than in 2013, but 64 percent of them were from women. A third of the complaints had to do with pregnancy, 10% were about ageism, 7% about reserve duty, 6% religion, 6% nationality, and 5% parenting. The commission dealt with 19 legal cases and proceedings in 2014, some of which are still ongoing.